The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-03-24
THE BEGINNING OF FSPRING--THE
BUSY SEASON.-AMONGT THE PIN ES.
The Tribute Paid by the Giants of Our
Pine Forests to Business Vim and Ac-
tivity..Crystal Brooks and BreeZes.


turned to the station
''Well, said the drummer. eff Christie
pher Columbus had landed anywhere in
this country he would have Immediately
jumped back into his canoe and told bis
boatman to pull for another shore
that there was nothing here worth discov-
ering."
This was when the r. & A. r. r. first
found its way through these pine forests.
Now the same drummer would admit that
for active and lively business on cool
cash basis, this section takes good size
slice of the cake, and for live, active, en-
ergetic business men. these naval store
men and lumber men walk off with the en-
tire bakery, and the way they are making
these pines pay tribute to their labor is
astonishing to the natives. There is music
too, in these pines, and they sing on for
ever. But of course the CHRONICLES read
ers couldn't expect a ven Ter of ''hog and
hominy" to make rhyme. Mr.. Boner
says that
''They rustic and whisper like ghosts,
They sigh like souls in pain,
Like the movements of stealthy hosts
They surge and are silent again.
The mic night hush is deep,
But the pines-the spirits distreSt-
They move in commandment sleep,
They whisper and are never at rest.
A dozen or more enterprising towns have
sprung up along the line of the r. 4 a.
Road and in and about each town hun
dred or more enterprising men have plant
ed turpentine distilleries and saw mills on
the banks of various little streams through
which the clear sand filtered water from
a thousand bubbling springs finds its way
to the distant rivers
AMONG tho nf tho ct
tiohs is Manly, pleasant little town of
two or three hundred inhabitants. It's
business grows bigger every year and its
merchants and manufacturers grow with
the place. Mr.. W. c. Petty is, and has
been since a depot was established here,
the efficient railroad agent. He is also
largely engaged in the manufacture of
naval stores and in merchandising Mr.
Jno. E. Buchan came to Manly when the
railroad came. He is a successful business
man and valuable citizen. Mr.. W. O.
RobesOn, who came from the good old
county of Bladen, is also one of Manlys
staunchest citizens; other prominent bust
ness men we find here, such as Messrs. Q.
S. and Nelson Jones, A. Mcmillan aud
others, all of them enterprising and valued
citizens.
Blues Crossing.
manufacturing enterprises to be found any
where. The Page Lumber Co headed by
Mr.. A. T. Page, with his three sons Robt
N, II. \. and Junius R., at the helm
They operate two large saw mills one
driven by 40-horse power engine, the
other by water-pOwer. Their mills are
conveniently located and it is interesting
to stand and watch the large circular SAWS
almost rush through these giants of the
pine forest. This company owns almost
IA, 900 acres of heavily timbered land and
powerful logging locomotive brings great
loads of SawlOgS over graded railway,
reaching miles out into the forest. Mr..
n. A. McKeithan is young man but every
inch business man. He began a few
years ago the manufacture and shipment
of naval stores, and has been most sue
cessful operator Mr.. John Blue has
already made fortune utilizing the pro
duct of the Southern pine and continues
to increase his already extensive Opera
tions.
This is another important shipping point
and place of trade, and such firms as j r.
McDuffie & Sons, Muse & Co., Holland
Bros, johnson q Lloyd and others are
making town out of a village, at the
same time aiding in the successful deyel-
opment of a hitherto neglected section.
Hoffman.
Mr. Geo. Hail, during his residence at
this point, once told the writer that unless
his CHRONICLE came properly directed to
Major G.. II. Hall, corner Water and Mar
ket streets, that he would not receive it.
l havn't been able during my short stay
here to exactly locate these thoroughfares,
but find activity here and considerable
business done. Messrs. Currie & Currie
are large turpentine operators and exten-
sive dealers in provisions and general mer-
chandise Mr. w. J. Whitaker, ii Wake
county man and most energetic and
clever gentleman, runs lumber mill on
large scale, his logs being conveyed to the
mill by a logging locomotive over tram
way several miles long, owned and run by
Mr.. A. H. Page.
Southern Pines.
Your readers have heard of this place
before. Here is where much effort has
been made by friend Patrick of the Imm-
grafton Bureau, and some plucky North
erners to establish Sanitarium for inva-
lids and they are going to succeed. This
is, they say, the highest point in the long
leaf pine region and the healthiest place
in America Whether they are justified
in making such a sweeping declaration, l
don't know, but ! do know that this place
is high and dry, that it is located Oh a
lofty sand ridge, that the water that flows
down the little streams about it is clear as
crystal and pure as sand hill system of
filtering can make it, that the breezes that
whisper through the boughs of the sur
rounding pines are bracing and exhilarat-
ing. l know too that the people who have
been here and who are still here say that
they are being benefitted-and there are a
number of them. Lawyers, doctors, mer-
chants, editors and others from up in the
blizzardy North, whose health has been
impaired, who are troubled with all man
ner of bronchial and pulmonary ailments
get benefit latter sojourning here for short
while. There are two splendid hotels here,
the Prospect House, built and owned by
Mr.. W. r. Raymond, of New York, is a
model hotel, splendidly arranged and kept
in first class style; cheerful pine knot fires
burn in every room and the courteous
Proprietor, Mr.. Raymond, could probably
fill two such houses all the winter if he
had them. There is poetry in these pine